1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network system comprising a customer replaceable unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In industrial equipment, office equipment and the like, as uptime accumulates, consumable articles decrease and components deteriorate. Therefore, the operator and the user sometimes need to replace the consumable articles and the components. Such replacement articles include not only a simple consumable article but also a replacement article that is replaced as a unit forming a group composed of a plurality of components or a plurality of components and consumable articles. Such a unit is called a customer replaceable unit (CRU).
For example, in an image forming apparatus that is one of the office equipment, a process cartridge, a toner cartridge, a transfer unit, a fixing unit and so on are formed as CRUs. Such a CRU is provided with a memory that is storing means (the memory provided in the CRU may be referred to as a CRUM). In the CRUM, an identification code for identifying the unit itself, a threshold value indicating a use condition, and operation information such as an operation program are stored, and moreover, operation performance of the CRU is stored after the CRU starts operation. When attached to an apparatus main body, the CRU operates based on the operation information stored in the CRUM, and stores the operation performance thereof into the CRUM.
FIG. 5 is a simplified system view illustrating the configuration of a network system 1 comprising the conventional CRU. The network system 1 illustrated in FIG. 5 has a configuration that, for example, a server 3 is connected to an in-house local area network (LAN) 2, and that a plurality of multifunction printers (MFPs) 4a, 4b, 4c . . . are further connected to the server 3. Here, the MFP is an image forming apparatus having a composite function of a copier, a printer, a scanner, a facsimile machine and so on. The MFP 4 (expressed without the alphabetical letters in the case of naming the MFPs generically) executes an image forming operation via the server 3 based on an operation command of an operating terminal such as a personal computer, connected to the LAN 2 (not shown).
FIG. 5 illustrates an example in which a toner cartridge is attached as a CRU 6 to an apparatus main body 5 of the MFP 4. Although the apparatus main body 5 includes an image processing portion, an image forming portion, a transfer portion, a fixing portion, a paper feeding portion and so on, only a controller 7 and a main-body central processing unit (CPU) 8 are illustrated for simplification.
In this example, the CRU 6 is a toner cartridge including, for example, a toner supply container that holds toner, a toner supply roller that is supported on the toner supply container so as to freely rotate, and so on. Moreover, the toner supply container is provided with an IC chip 9 forming a CRUM, a CPU 10 that is a processing circuit, and a connector 11 that is an electrical connection terminal with the apparatus main body 5. In the IC chip 9 provided in the CRU 6, an identification code for identifying the toner cartridge and the operation information are stored.
When attached to the apparatus main body 5, the CRU 6 is electrically connected to the apparatus main body 5 by the connector 11, whereby communication of information with the apparatus main body 5 becomes possible. When an image forming operation command is outputted from the operation terminal connected to the LAN 2, the image forming operation command is given to the controller 7 of the apparatus main body 5 via the LAN 2 and the server 3. In accordance with the image forming operation command, the main-body CPU 8 controls image forming operations of the whole MFP 4. Based on an operation command from the main-body CPU 8, the CPU 10 of the CRU 6 reads out the operation information of the toner cartridge from the IC chip 9, controls the operation of the toner cartridge that is the CRU 6 based on the operation information, and causes a developing portion provided in the image forming portion of the apparatus main body 5 to execute an operation of supplying toner. As the operation is executed, operation performance of the toner cartridge that is the CRU 6, for example, the number of rotations of the toner supply roller, which is information on the amount of remaining toner in the toner supply container, is stored in the CRUM.
In a CRU provided with a CRUM, various improvements have been proposed in order to increase convenience. For example, there is a proposal to store information on ordering into a CRUM in advance and, when a CRU reaches the limits of use through operation, provide the order information in the form of printed matter by a printing machine to make the user recognize the order information in an early stage, thereby giving the user enough time to place an order for a replacement article (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2002-304279). Moreover, there is a proposal to store a software code upgrade into a CRUM in advance so that the operator can update a software code without the need for calling a field engineer or the like (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2004-1512).
However, in the case of related arts, important information such as the operation information, the order information and the software code upgrade, that is, information necessary for manufacturing a CRU is all stored in a CRUM. Therefore, when it is possible to obtain the CRU provided with the CRUM, it is possible to analyze and reproduce the information stored in the CRUM, so that there is a problem that an imitation product is easily manufactured. Moreover, there is a need to store plenty of information into the CRUM, so that there is a problem that a memory having a relatively large capacity must be disposed to each CRU, which becomes a factor in increase of the costs of the CRU.